Matthew Judd has been awarded Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Sam Weller
He received the accolade at the North West National Operatic and Dramatic Association (NODA) awards ceremony held in Blackpool, Sunday the 4th May 2003. Our congratulations go to Matt who was a worthy recepient of this award.
This musical was devised as a vehicle for Harry Secombe and was revived with Sir Harry in 1993. One critic described the show as 'Comic Strip Dickens'. With lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and music by Cyril Ornadel the show gave Secombe the song everyone associates with him, 'If I Ruled The World'.
I feel that most societies omit Pickwick from their show selection because of the difficulty in casting the title role, which is a shame as there is such a wealth of great characters and good music. For this production the part of Pickwick was filled, in every aspect, by Andrew Harrison.
You cannot have a Pickwick without the members of the "The Pickwick Club". Here we had three of the most colourful Dickensian characters played to the full by Aidan Kielty (Snodgrass), John Walker (Tupman) and Andrew Kielty (Winkle).
The rogue of the piece was Colin Titley (Jingle) "Very". Margaret Johnson gave us a very humorous Mrs Bardell, but it was Matthew Judd's interpretation of Sam Weller that completely stole the show.
The rest of the company should be commended for their work in this production, which clearly moved the society forward. This was achieved under Alan Titley's economical, slick direction. Adding to the quality was a good reading of the score, a good set, costumes and lighting.
John Flay